


bury me deep

by marcaskane (noblydonedonnanoble)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Episode s03e08: Terms and Conditions, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 07:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6185410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/marcaskane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marcus's wrists are itching when he wakes up.</p><p>[takes place during s3 ep8, based on <a href="http://marcaskane.tumblr.com/post/140447825510/chekhovsgum-cindymoon-im-so-tired-of-the-au">this</a> tumblr post: "your enemy’s name on one wrist and your soulmate the another. no clue which is which. hope it’s not the same name on both wrists."]</p>
            </blockquote>





	bury me deep

                Marcus’s wrists are itching when he wakes up.

                He hardly thinks about it until he looks down and notices two things: first, that he is scratching precisely over the messy “Abigail,” on his left wrist; and second, that the writing on both of his wrists has grown darker. He’s almost tempted to say the letters might be black.

                The moment he processes this, his stomach sinks and he rolls over, burying his face into his pillow.

                Over the years, he’s heard about and seen this enough times to realize what it means. But he doesn’t like the look of it, not today. It would be one thing if it were just Abby’s name, confirming for him what he’s suspected for months. But Abby’s name is not the only one that’s pulsing across his skin with an impatient intensity.

                Although he supposes that this, too, is a confirmation of what he already knew.

                When he finally sits up, Marcus grabs blindly for his shirt, eventually finding it discarded on the floor. His pants and jacket are resting on his sofa, where he’d laid them carefully the night before. As he slips into his jacket, he feels a flush of relief. By covering up the names, at least he can temporarily forget that they’re there.

                He’s supposed to meet Sinclair, Bellamy, and the others in fifteen minutes. Pike is busy in a council meeting, which is the only reason they feel comfortable congregating in such a large group.

                But now he can’t help feeling nervous.

                Marcus wonders, fleetingly, if he has enough time to go find Abby and talk to her before everything falls apart.

                This possibility fades away the moment he steps outside his door and sees that Pike is coming down the hall with two members of the guard in tow.

                “Stop, Marcus,” he says as they grow closer. “You’re under arrest for conspiracy and treason.”

                “You’ve probably been looking forward to saying that,” Marcus remarks before he can stop himself. Pike doesn’t answer.

                Pike stops a few feet in front of Marcus while the guards restrain Marcus’s wrists, and for a few moments, the two of them just hold each other’s gaze. Marcus’s right wrist is burning and he hopes, perversely, that Pike feels it too. He hopes that every good memory that they’ve shared is racing through Pike’s mind too.

                He doesn’t say any of that, though. Instead he asks, “Was it Bellamy? Who gave you the information to actually arrest me. Just tell me that.”

                “What, and give you the satisfaction of knowing who’s disloyal to you? I’d rather not.” He looks to the guards. “Take him to lock-up.”

                The moment they put Marcus behind bars and free his hands, he sits down on the ground and starts scratching at the jagged, “Charles,” on his right wrist until he bleeds.

                Sinclair and the others are brought in half an hour later. Bellamy isn’t with them, and that’s confirmation enough for Marcus. So it comes as a great surprise when Bellamy relieves another guard’s watch in the early evening.

                About ten minutes pass, then the hallway clears of passers-by and Bellamy turns to look in at the prisoners, catching Marcus’s eye. “Kane.” His voice is low and gruff.

                Marcus is on his feet and at the door in a flash, peering at Bellamy through the grate. He tries very hard not to betray how hopeful he is that Bellamy hasn’t betrayed him after all. “Yes?”

                His voice is so quiet that Marcus can barely hear him. “Now that Pike thinks the rebellion is contained, he’s planning a march against the Grounder blockade. He wants to make a move at dawn. But he’s going to be alone in the Chancellor’s quarters for the next few hours—if you go right now, you can catch him by surprise.”

                “You’re serious?” Marcus furrows his brow. “You turned me in just for this? Have you been planning on letting me out the whole time?”

                Bellamy’s mouth curls into a slight smile. “I thought he might let his guard down once he locked you up, but I couldn’t tell you because he was having me record all of our conversations. Are you mad?”

                “No, no, of course not. I can work with this.”

                With this, Bellamy’s smile grows larger and he nods, fumbling for the key to the door as he says, “Thanks, sir.”

                Marcus shakes his hand as he’s about to run off. At the last moment, though, he pauses and claps Bellamy on the shoulder, gently saying, “Thank you, Bellamy. I’m trying to do the right thing.”

                Bellamy nods slightly. “I know. I understand that now.”

                “Good.” Marcus smiles once more.

                He takes a detour almost without thinking of it and he finds himself at Abby’s door. He knows he probably shouldn’t knock, probably shouldn’t waste time when Pike could become aware of his escape at any moment.

                In spite of this, he knocks hurriedly.

                The moment she opens the door, Abby lets out a little gasp of surprise and immediately steps back to allow him inside. “Marcus, I thought Pike arrested you.”

                “He did.” Marcus starts pacing back and forth as soon as he steps through the door. “Bellamy let me go.”

                “Bellamy did?” She doesn’t try very hard to conceal her surprise. “I’m glad to hear that. What are you going to do, then?”

                “I’m on my way to confront Pike.”

                Abby nods carefully. “Okay. What do you need from me?”

                Within moments, his resolve fades and he finds himself feeling incredibly shy. He starts scratching at his wrist absent-mindedly, and has to specifically will himself to stop. “I don’t need anything, I just wanted to see you.”

                “Oh.” Her voice falters as Marcus stops pacing a few feet in front of her. “What for?”

                “Don’t you know?”

                Marcus has never seen his name on Abby’s wrist. He was always too scared to ask when they were children, when she was married to his best friend, when she hated him…

                And when he became convinced that he was falling in love with her, he became more frightened than ever.

                So even now, he finds himself worrying that perhaps he’s not her soulmate after all.

                But then he sees the way that she’s scratching her wrist, too, and he swallows sharply as she nods. “Yes. My soulmark woke me up this morning, it was burning so strongly.”

                “May I see it?”

                Abby takes a few steps closer and holds out her right arm to him. As he reaches to push up her sleeve, she continues, “I woke up and it was burning and raw, and then I found out Pike arrested you and I thought…”

                His own name stares up at him. The skin around it is angry and red. “You thought he killed me,” he offers quietly.

                “Yes.”

                Marcus hesitates for a moment before saying, “I’m worried that he’s going to. He and I are evenly matched, he has a fair chance if we come to blows. Which we will.”

                “So you’re here because you think you need to say goodbye.”

                “Not just that,” he counters. “I thought it was high time we acknowledged this, too.” He grazes his thumb over his name. “Because even though I should find Pike before he finds out that I’m missing, and even though he might kill me… he might not. And if he doesn’t…”

                “Come back here once you’ve finished with Pike and we’ll talk about it then.”

                “Abby…”

                She links her fingers with his. “I know. But you should really go. Save Arkadia.”

                He glances back toward the door. “Give me 60 seconds. Just in case.”

                “Okay.”

                Perhaps he could best use this opportunity to profess his love for Abby and articulate just how profoundly he’s come to admire and respect her.

                Instead, he closes the distance between them and kisses her, curling his hand around the back of her neck and pulling her close. Abby falls into the kiss immediately, one of her hands going to clutch his shoulder and the other tangling in his hair. His wrist isn’t burning anymore; instead, it feels like an eager, encouraging pulsing.

                Before he knows it, though, she’s pushing him away, although her fingers linger in his hair for a few moments longer. “Now you should definitely go find Pike.”

                “I’m going, I’m going,” he agrees, holding his hands in the air in mock surrender as he moves closer to the door. “I will be back. I promise.”

                Marcus longs to tell her he loves her, but that can wait.


End file.
